"I hate you so much Mal," said Inara into the earpiece.

"No you don't," replied Castle into his own earpiece.

"She's right Castle," said Beckett, "we hate you."

"All you gotta do is what you ladies do best," said Castle, "flirt."

"Hey! I am not a flirt," said Beckett.

"Sure you're not. Now stop talking to yourselves and be nice."

"I just wanted to put in that I hate you too Castle," said Ryan.

"Me too," said Esposito.

"Oh come on, you can't hate me! It's because of me that you're at the party of the year each with a gorgeous lady on your arm," said Castle slyly. They couldn't complain now without their partner taking it as an insult.

"Castle," said Ryan, "I'm engaged remember."

"Please, you cannot be feeling guilty about this!" said Esposito.

"You're engaged?" asked Inara, who was his 'partner' for the night.

"Yes."

"Congratulations!"

"Guys, not the time," said Beckett.

"Remind me why you guys couldn't do this?" asked Ryan.

"Well I'm a wanted man, I can't walk into a room full of officials that know my face. Simon and River can't either. We need River and Kaylee with the ship in case of the mighty need for a quick getaway, Zoe didn't want to do it and Jayne couldn't pass himself off as a gentleman even if his life depended on it."

"Oi!"

"It's true Jayne," said Zoe.

"Don't mean he has to say it," grumbled Jayne.

"Can't we just stop complaining and concentrate of the task," said Castle.

There were mumbled agreements and they fell silent. Vaguely Castle could hear Inara and Beckett making small talk with some official.

Jayne, Zoe and Castle crawled through the grass outside the mansion where the party was and waited for the camera's to turn away.

"Okay on three," whispered Zoe, "One…two…three!"

They sprinted as quietly as they could across the lawn and to under the security camera where it's lens couldn't see.

Castle silently went to the back door and picked the old fashion lock. Lucky for them this was an old mansion, so it wasn't full of high tech security. The camera was practically the only new thing; it had motion sensors on it.

"Okay, done," he whispered and they opened the door with guns out.

"Clear."

"Clear."

"Clear. Come on, accommodation's upstairs."

They weaved their way through corridors, taking stairs to the upper levels.

"Room 58. Room 58," Castle whispered, "Here. Inara if you're 'friend' was lying to us-"

"You can kill him later. Come on Mal," said Zoe and she quickly picked the lock.

"Who would go ta one of these gorram 'antique' parties?" asked Jayne, "I mean, security's horrible, it's practically tellin' us to break in and have a poke around."

"Doctor Valentino loves old things," said Castle, checking for any traps or security camera's.

"He tell you that did he?" asked Jayne.

"Jayne," said Castle looking at him, "He built a time machine."

"So?"

"Nothing Jayne. Don't worry about it."

They looked some more, checking drawers, for the key cards but they were nowhere to be found.

"Okay, guys it's a negative. We can't find them. They're not up here."

"So we actually have to go through with this?" asked Beckett.

"Yes."

"Remind me why there is two of us?" asked Inara.

"The guys a scientist and a sucker for women, but he's still married. You're job is to make him an offer he can't refuse."

"I hate you."

"No you don't," he said in a singsong tone.

F_I_R_E_F_L_Y_C_A_S_T_L_E

"Okay," said Beckett, taking the microphone out of her ear discreetly.

"What are you doing?" asked Inara.

"You'll see."

She let go of Esposito's arm, and said, "Go to the toilet or something."

She walked towards the bar where her quarry was currently seated.

She sat down next to him and ordered a drink. He looked at her face and then down lower and then back up. So he's at least part-gentlemen, she thought.

"Hey," she said, playing with her drink which had arrived, "Where's your partner?"

"Oh, um, she, uh couldn't make it," he stuttered, "Where's that man you were with?"

"Watching me were you?" she asked slyly, a suggestive grin on her face.

"I um, er…"

"He's in the restroom, with some other chick probably," she said.

"Oh."

She acted as though she was thinking about it and said, "Do you know anyone here who's up to a little…fun?"

Over across the room, Inara said, "She's good. Not Companion good mind you, but good."

"What is a Companion? We asked Castle but he wouldn't tell us," asked Ryan.

"Companions are-"

"Whoa, don't answer that question!" said Mal hastily.

"Why? What did you do?" asked Inara, laughing.

"He called us Companions when we were stealing the shuttle," said Esposito who was hiding in the toilets.

"He called his daughter a Companion?" asked Inara.

"No I did not," said Mal, "And if you value your life you will not answer that question Inara."

"What is the Earth-That-Was comparison…" mumbled Inara.

"Hey! I said not to answer that question!"

"Oh I know! A prostitute isn't it?" answered Inara.

"Really?" asked Esposito, "You're a prostitute?"

"Mr Esposito, I am a Companion. Not a prostitute."

"Or Whore."

"Mal! You're daughters on the other line!" chastised Inara.

"She's used to me by now," said Mal.

"Hang on, she's your daughter?" asked Jayne.

"Yeah, didn't anyone tell you?" asked Mal.

"No!"

"I'm sure I told you, guys."

"No!"

"I found out from Alexis," said Zoe.

"Same here," said Kaylee and Inara at the same time.

"River told me," said Simon.

"Well noone gorram told me!" said Jayne indignantly.

"Well you know now," said Mal.

Then they heard the scraping of a chair and Inara saw out of the corner of her eye Kate standing up and whispering into her microphone, "Ryan scram!"

"I'm just going to go…over there," said Ryan, pointing to the bathroom.

"Inara," said Kate, giving her a hug, "He took the bait."

"Good," said Mal.

"By the way Castle," said Kate pretending to talk to her and point to Valentino who was watching them eagerly, "Prostitute?"

"I'm dead aren't I?"

"Yep," and then she laughed and hooked her arm in Inara's and they walked up the back, Valentino following.

They took separate elevators, since Valentino didn't want people to realize what he was doing, and because Kate didn't want things to get hot and heavy before they could spring the trap.

The walked into the room and were greeted by Mal pulling them to one side, a gun in his hand.

Then the door knob turned.

"Here we go," whispered Castle.

FIREFLYCASTLE

Hopefully the changing of POV wasn't too confusing. Please review!